International awareness of orbital debris is at least a decade old. The United Nations “UNISPACE '82” report characterized the increase in space science, technology and applications as a mixed blessing, as this activity had generated a vast amount of “space debris.” (1)

Prophetically, at that time the U.N. report stated that while the “probability of accidental collision with a live space object is yet statistically small, it does exist and the continuation of present practices ensures that this probability will increase to unacceptable levels.” (2)

In the intervening ten years, spacefaring nations have continued to generate debris in the orbital environment. It now appears that if left unattended, additional spacecraft launches, crowded collision-prone orbits, on-orbit construction, and inspace explosions and fragmentation could create a serious orbital debris problem that may increasingly and detrimentally affect activity in outer space.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

The United States Government – led by NASA and the Departments of Defense and State – began to focus its attention to the problem of orbital debris in the mid-1980' s. Initial interagency concepts were incorporated during the 1987 review of national space policy commissioned by the White House. (3) In 1988, President Reagan authorized a new space policy that included the following statement on debris: